10 Highlighted Posts from the CGAP Technology Blog from 2010

With 2010 now behind us, we’ve done a quick review of our blog posts over the last year. There were a lot of interesting topics discussed both by CGAP and guest bloggers. Here are just a few of the ones that seemed to catch people’s attention:

• The forced marriage between social protection and financial inclusion…or a match made in heaven?: Here Sarah Rotman discusses whether there’s a feasible opportunity to expand access to finance through the outreach of government social protection programs.
• Where will the next mobile money innovation come from?: Mark Pickens describes all of the interesting new mobile money businesses that eager entrepreneurs are trying to start in Kenya.
• Branchless Banking 2010: What Price?: In this post, Claudia McKay asks whether branchless banking is cheaper than traditional banking, and presents some research that begins to answer this question.
• Mobile Banking 2.0 or 0.5? – Mobile banking for those with no mobile: Chris Bold wonders whether over-the-counter transactions may be an important alternative strategy for mobile banking providers.
• Priorities for branchless banking: In a series of blogs, Ignacio Mas from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation lays out 4 priorities or milestones in the development and roll-out of branchless banking.
• Are banks the bad guys in the mobile money innovation debate?: In this post, Sarah Rotman continues the debate on innovation in the mobile money industry by asking whether banks are perceived correctly as stalling innovation.
• How can microfinance take advantage of mobile banking?: Claudia McKay presents research CGAP conducted on 15 microfinance organizations to understand their perspective and plans for mobile banking.
• Mobile operators and banks: If you can’t beat them…buy them!: Here Chris Bold explains the interesting move by Telenor in Pakistan to acquire 51% of the shares in Tameer Microfinance Bank.
• Branchless banking: the test and see approach: In this post, Michael Tarazi suggests that it is better for regulators to avoid developing a comprehensive framework for branchless banking regulation and instead wait to see how the market develops.
• From rural outpost to boomtown: how banking services transformed a town in the Amazon: Claudia McKay describes a town in the Brazilian Amazon basin that credits agent banking with sparking an economic boom.